Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction: The Vulnerable, Empowered, and Spirit-Driven Endarkened Narrative
How to Engage This Book
A Word About Who This Book Is For
A Note on Language, Which Shapes How We See and Are Seen
1: When Women of Color Are Free, All People Move Toward Freedom
How We Got Here
Early Feminism and Womenâs Liberation
Feminism and Women of Color: A Complicated Relationship
Endarkened Feminist Epistemology
Womanism
2: Transformative Love: Shaping the Endarkened Narrative
Narrative Inquiry
Storytelling as Cultural Practice
The Need for Culturally Situated Methodology
Methodological Framework and Constructed Spaces of Inquiry
Endarkened Narrative Tenets
Viola and Pamelaâs Endarkened Narratives
A Life Lived in Testimony: Violaâs Narrative
Grace and Mercy: Pamelaâs Life Lived in the In-Between
Reflections on Viola and Pamelaâs Narratives
3: Narrative as Data: Centering Trace-Making, Memory, and Meaning
Epistemological and Ethical Foundations for Culturally Situated Methods
Overview of Methods: Wisdom Whispers and Timelines
Wisdom Whispers
Power- Sharing and Researcher Positioning
Eliciting Wisdom Whispers Through Artistic and Embodied Forms
The Treasure Box Method
Prompts for Wisdom Whispers
Timelines
Ethical Considerations for Vulnerable and Empowered Storytelling
Pamelaâs Timeline: A Critical Moment
Improvising Ethical Responses
Improvisation to Heighten Creativity
A Note on Language
4: The Story Within the Story: Making Meaning from the Margins
Narrative and Story: A Necessary Distinction
An Example: Black Womenâs Negotiations of Spirituality and Sexuality
Narrative as Data: Endarkened Narrative Structure and Analytic Approach
Analytic Structure for Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Lifeâs Lessons: Interconnected Aspects of Personhood
Sources of Strength and Barriers: Cultural, Spiritual, and Healing Traditions
Lives, Dreams, and Hopes: Relational Aspects of Experience
(Re)Presenting the Data Through Vulnerable, Empowered, and Spirit-Driven Narratives
The Limitations of Bildungsroman
Vulnerable, Empowered, and Spirit-Driven (VES) Narratives
5: Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
The Role of Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
The Researcher as Embodied Knower
Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Reflection and Reflexivity: Distinctions and Entanglements
How Endarkened Narrative Inquiry Deepens Reflexivity
Relational Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Embodied Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Relational and Embodied Experiences Represented
Creating Space for Relational Reflexivity
Expanding Reflexivity in Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Reflexive Cycle for Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
Awareness
Relational Engagement
Spiritual and Cultural Integration
Critical Examination
Knowledge Transformation
Documentation and Integration
6: Love as an Agent of Justice Through Endarkened Narrative Inquiry
The Tenets as Agents of Justice
Research that is Personal
Research that is Relational
Research that is Reflexive
Research that Represents
Research that Reclaims
What ENI Can Disrupt and Build
Methods for Data Collection and Analysis
This Work Is Not Finished
But Are Our Brothers Alright? An Open Invitation
Love as Praxis: A Closing Invitation
References
About the Author